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Comment by Tor3 | Hacker News Reader

When my ICE car is getting low on fuel, which happens quite often because the tank isn't that big and I tend to avoid filling up when the prices are high (they vary a lot here), I also have to micromanage the A/C and anything else, because they consume just as much energy as they do in an EV car, and that comes from the gasoline. It's most definitely not something I "don't have to care about". It's actually more of a concern because when my car is low on fuel it's very hard to know exactly how much is left - is it half a liter, two, or three? There are way fewer fueling stations than in the past, so getting there also takes fuel. At least with an EV I could have charged at home or at work or at the shopping mall.. well, I'll stay with my ICE car for a while more but that's because there are other good things about it which aren't yet available for EVs, but I do wish it was an EV.

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This is purely your behaviour though, the more general case is that most people dont have to micromanage their ICE vehicles or be concerned about range. Especially in the case where they are doing extended driving trips where even fuel can be scarce jerry cans are easy enough to pack.

But my point was that A/C and all electric appliances also affect fuel consumption of ICE cars, and if, for any reason, you're low on fuel you have to take that as much into consideration as with an EV car (except that it's often much harder to gauge how much you have left, with an ICE car).

Of course the AC affects range on ICE cars, but nobody cares about that because there's always a gas station around the corner or at the next exit.

You are the exception. That's what all the replies are trying to tell you

That's probably true in the US. Not around here, in a semi-populated region of Europe. It's far shorter to somewhere to charge than it is to a gas station. There used to be lots of them, but they started to disappear even before EVs were a thing. For me the nearest one is quite a bit away, through a toll booth even.

If you provided that context, you would not have gotten such incredulous replies. Btw the US isn't special. I'm in India right now and there's a petrol station around every corner just like there's a gas station around every corner back home

I assure you that this is not normal behavior. Furthermore, why would you consider paying more ($10k to $20K more!)[0] for an EV if you're trying to time the market on gas prices and worried about spending a few cents on running the A/C?

0: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38864408

That was not my point at all, the point was that, unlike what was implied in what I commented on, usage of A/C and appliances don't matter for ICE cars, which is not at all true. Energy use is just as for EV cars and has to be taken into consideration. In any case, pricing is different in various places - I own an ICE car, and I have always bought low cost, used cars. That place doesn't currently exist in the EV market.

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